Got back in early enough to allow myself a listen to the recent Proms performance of Havergal Brian's 1st symphony, the Gothic, courtesy of the wonderful Radio 3 page at the BBC. I first heard of the piece when reading the obituaries for Brian in the early seventies (I think 1972.) At that time my only real musical interest lay in what might broadly be termed rock music, but I think Melody Maker had an article on the composer basically to the effect that there was great music out there that never got played (the Gothic is so vast in scale it is rarely performed and Brian was and is hardly fashionable as a composer) so rock musicians should think themselves very lucky. My interest was piqued but, alas, I never got my hands on a recording, since there wasn't one.
Fast forward to this year and old friend David H. e-mails me to say he's in the choir for the symphony (as a member of the Huddersfield Choral Society.) I happen to check out the Radio 3 page a couple of days ago and, blimey, they're providing a link to the actual performance. So being fated to listen I do.
And it was lovely stuff. Very English but ridiculously ambitious. All sorts going on, most of it tunefully. Loved every minute, of which there were many.
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